Why this ride
From Montecatini-Terme it runs 200 km to Montecatini-Terme; allow about 4 h 23 of riding. On the way it passes Villa La Magia, Villa de Cerreto Guidi, Villa de Artimino and Villa de Castello.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Montecatini Terme and Villa de Castello
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 200 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 23
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Chiantigiana Wine Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 21 km this is Chiantigiana Wine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 21 km
- Named road
- Chiantigiana Wine Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Montecatini Terme
The water at Montecatini has been drunk for health since the Middle Ages, but it was in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the town became one of the great spa resorts of Europe, with grand thermal establishments built in neoclassical, Liberty and Art Deco styles, set in parks of plane trees and pines. The Tettuccio, with its marble colonnades and frescoes, is the most famous, a temple of water where visitors drink from taps along a counter. In 2021 Montecatini became part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site, alongside Baden-Baden, Bath, Vichy and others.
Read the complete Montecatini Terme write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Montecatini Terme is where the day begins. Next is Villa La Magia.
2. Villa La Magia
The Medici loved the countryside, especially when it came with hunting grounds, and Villa La Magia at Quarrata was one of their country retreats at the foot of the Montalbano hills, a few kilometres south of Pistoia. Francesco I de' Medici bought it in the sixteenth century to use as a hunting lodge, and it belongs to the World Heritage inscription for the Medici villas and gardens of Tuscany. The villa is a solid rectangular building around a courtyard, more farmhouse than palace, with a park that has become home to contemporary art installations, a rather unexpected touch for a Renaissance hunting lodge.
Read the complete Villa La Magia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa La Magia comes up 20 km in. Next is Villa de Cerreto Guidi.
3. Villa de Cerreto Guidi
Cosimo I de' Medici liked to hunt, and in the 1560s he had a villa built on a hilltop at Cerreto Guidi, on the edge of the marshes and woods west of Florence, where the game was plentiful. From the outside it is austere, a solid block of stone facing a square, but the approach is spectacular: a pair of great brick ramps, known as the Medici bridges, zigzag up to the entrance. The villa is part of the UNESCO listing of the Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany, and it holds a dark legend. Cosimo's daughter Isabella died here in 1576, and the story goes that she was murdered by her husband, Paolo Giordano Orsini, for her alleged infidelity. Whether it is true or not, it is told to every visitor.
Read the complete Villa de Cerreto Guidi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
39 km in you reach Villa de Cerreto Guidi. Next is Villa de Artimino.
4. Villa de Artimino
The Medici liked to hunt, and Ferdinando I wanted somewhere to do it. In the late sixteenth century the grand duke commissioned the architect Bernardo Buontalenti to build him a hunting lodge on the hill of Artimino, west of Florence, and the result was a large, plain and strangely beautiful villa with a loggia, a terrace and a forest of chimneys. It is nicknamed the villa of the hundred chimneys, though there are fewer than that, and the stacks along the roofline give the building a rhythm that you can recognise from a long way off. It is one of the Medici villas and gardens that UNESCO listed in 2013 for the way they shaped the Italian idea of a country house.
Read the complete Villa de Artimino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa de Artimino, about halfway. Next is Villa de Castello.
5. Villa de Castello
The Villa di Castello stands on the north-western edge of Florence, in the flat land below Monte Morello, and the huge city has grown right up to its gates. Sesto Fiorentino, a town of forty-five thousand people, is three kilometres away, and the centre of Florence a few more. The villa is one of the Medici villas that UNESCO inscribed in 2013, and it is an unusual one, because the garden is the main attraction and the house inside is plain.
Read the complete Villa de Castello write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa de Castello sits at 79 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa de Artimino.
6. back through Villa de Artimino
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa de Artimino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa de Artimino comes up 98 km in. Next is back through Villa de Cerreto Guidi.
7. back through Villa de Cerreto Guidi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa de Cerreto Guidi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
118 km in you reach back through Villa de Cerreto Guidi. Next is back through Villa La Magia.
8. back through Villa La Magia
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa La Magia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa La Magia, late in the day. Next is Montecatini Terme.
9. Montecatini Terme
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Montecatini Terme write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 200 km.
Leg by leg
Montecatini Terme to Villa La Magia
Montecatini Terme → Villa La Magia is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa La Magia to Villa de Cerreto Guidi
Villa La Magia → Villa de Cerreto Guidi is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Cerreto Guidi to Villa de Artimino
Villa de Cerreto Guidi → Villa de Artimino is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Artimino to Villa de Castello
Villa de Artimino → Villa de Castello is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Castello to back through Villa de Artimino
Villa de Castello → back through Villa de Artimino is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Artimino to back through Villa de Cerreto Guidi
back through Villa de Artimino → back through Villa de Cerreto Guidi is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Cerreto Guidi to back through Villa La Magia
back through Villa de Cerreto Guidi → back through Villa La Magia is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa La Magia to Montecatini Terme
back through Villa La Magia → Montecatini Terme is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.